For years, wildlife law enforcement suspected the man in the photo, Andrew Pashley, has been illegally hunting and running an unlicensed outfitting business, according to a news release sent Thursday by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Finally, officers were able to pin him for his role in illegally harvesting a mountain lion last month when Pashley pleaded guilty to illegally selling and possessing big game wildlife.

Pashley caught up with Pashley after a hunter who said he killed a mountain lion with Pashley presented the dead lion to the department for mandatory inspection in January 2017. Officers suspected that the hunter was lying about how he knew Pashley and where he killed the mountain lion, and visited the place where the animal was supposedly killed.

Prosecutors charged Pashley with three felonies and eight misdemeanors after searching his Evergreen property and finding evidence of multiple crimes, including an illegal outfitting business.

The hunter, who was not identified, later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of hunting on private property without permission, illegal possession of a mountain lion and using an illegal method of hunting. As part of the plea deal, he agreed to testify against Pashley and received a year of probation.

A Jefferson County judge sentenced Pashley on Nov. 8 to two years of supervised probation and a suspension of his hunting, fishing and trapping licenses. A Colorado Parks and Wildlife official will decide at a later date whether to block Pashley from all licenses in Colorado and 47 other states for the rest of his life.

Pashley, 35, also had to forfeit the truck he used in his illegal outfitting business, his dogs’ hunting equipment and the money he made from the illegal mountain lion hunt.

“Illegal and unethical actions like what Mr. Pashley participated in put a black eye on hunters, outfitters and houndsmen,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Officer Joe Nicholson said in the news release. “Pashley’s actions are those of a poacher, not a hunter, and it is good to bring somebody like Pashley to justice.”

Hunting for mountain lions is legal in Colorado during specific seasons in selected areas with the purchase of a license. If a mountain lion is killed, the hunter must bring the carcass to a parks and wildlife official within five days for inspection.

Elise Schmelzer is a breaking news reporter at The Denver Post. She previously wrote for the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming, the Washington Post and the Colorado Springs Gazette. When she's not writing, she disappears into the mountains to hike and fish.

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